Moth to a flame - Jonās POV on sailing through the romantic journey of the Jonerys ship in S07
Iāve discussed Jon & Danyās mirroring arcs in great detail in whatās practically myĀ Jonerys ThesisĀ which ends at the worlds colliding and these two finally meeting. I got an amazing request to write a meta from Jonās perceptive on him falling in love with Dany. So letās take this season apart with a scalpel to explore Jonās romantic journey in S07. Letās start with the most basic premise - Jon doesnāt know Dany. Ā We need to put aside our understanding of her character and view her as a stranger, whose help he needs to save the North from a zombie apocalypse and everyone in his life packed him a nice baggage of prejudice before he left Winterfell.Ā
The Bias he starts out with:Ā
Danyās father brutally murdered Jonās uncle & grandfather and her brother kidnapped & raped Jonās aunt to his knowledge.Ā
Jonās father, Ned, fought in the rebellion to overthrow the Targaryens.Ā
The Northern Lords & his sister are sure he would be killed or burnt alive if he meets Dany.Ā Ā
She sailed to Westeros as a foreign invader and the Westerosi expect a conquest as scary as Aegonās in an already war torn, bankrupt and politically unstable country at the brink of a zombie apocalypse.Ā
CerseiāsĀ āMad Kingās daughterā propaganda is spreading like wildfire.Ā
I talked about this in my Jonerys metaĀ as well but the House values of Stark & Targaryen contradict in terms of avoiding the game to focus on the threats that winter brings vs dominating the game with godlike power of dragons. These values were only amplified when Jon joined The Nightās Watch, which completely avoids politics to focus on threats beyond The Wall and when Dany was left with the burden ofĀ āThe Last Targaryenā with sole responsibility & resources to restore her Houseās honour.Ā
I will explore how this conflict in their belief system comes into play in most of their scenes until their goals finally align. But to begin with, Jon receives an order from Dany to come bend the knee, similar to the one Cersei sent him. The Starks have conflicts with Targaryens and Lannisters at a very similar level & Jon is at a place politically where he detests any political ambition other than protecting the realm from White Walkers considering how the āGame of Thronesā destroyed the realm and left it too weak to survive a zombie apocalypse. He doesnāt know all the good she has done in Essos or why people follow her, all he can see is yet another person who wants the Iron Throne based on their birthright.Ā
The North has no ammunition to fight the White Walkers & their army is too small. There is no hope for their survival come winter. He is motivated to meet her only when he realises that Dragonstone has abundance of Dragonglass & Dragons along with her massive army which could give them a fighting chance.
Jon personally doesnāt hate Targaryens. In the books itās mentioned that many of his personal heroes from history were Targaryens and itās natural to be fascinated by the presence of a dragon riding Targaryen after reading so much about them in myths & legends.Ā
He is terrified of the worst case scenario that could await him but the best case scenario is that she represents hope for life. She could just be harbinger of summer they need. After all, she is someone who returned dragons to the world, these magical creatures he had only read about & believed to be extinct. Not to mention that she commands the greatest amry in this sexist world, something almost every character who hears of her accomplishments is intrigued by.Ā
With all that in mind, letās breakdown 7x03 - The Queenās Justice - Strangers/Foes to Potential Allies
Beginning : There are three conflicting feelings he starts out with which stand in his way of a successful military alliance.Ā
Intimidation - After countless warnings and reminders of the magnitude of the danger he is putting himself in, the Dothraki seizing his weapons & boat makes him paranoid that he might be a prisoner. Drogonās little welcome must have been terrifying for someone seeing a dragon for the first time & Danyās introduction was too intimidating, regal & formal.Ā
Attraction - Jon was visibly shaken after seeing her for the first time and by Kitās own admission, he wasnāt expecting someone so beautiful and of the same age. It added a positive note for a moment during their small talk. But maybe this pushed him to cling onto his other two emotional responses harder, since he couldnāt afford to have a crush at such an inopportune time.Ā
Bias - As soon as the difference in their political goals is introduced and she insists he bends the knee (my meta on both their perspectives onĀ bending the knee), there is a rift between the two - coldness & formality - as they push each otherās buttons to get the other to submit & get behind their respective agenda 100% with no compromise. Not to mention, growing up as a bastard surrounded by arrogant Highborns & not knowing Danyās journey and everything she went through to earn her titles, her claims make her seem like another privileged Highborn on a throne from his perceptive.Ā
Looking into the Mirror : Jonās first attempt at pushing her buttons involves reminding her of the things her father did to his family due to which she canāt lord his ancestorās vow over him. āBreak faith? Your father burned my grandfather alive. He burned my uncle alive. He would have burned the Seven Kingdomsāā
Iām sure he expected pushback, instead she apologises āMy fatherā¦was an evil man. On behalf of House Targaryenā¦I ask your forgiveness for the crimes he committed against your family. And I ask you not to judge a daughter by the sins of her father.ā Not only did the apology shatter his first impression & bias a little but her her words mirror his own & appeal to who he is deep down as a person. ( Gif : @midqueenally)
Together : She extends an olive branch and offers him some hope that maybe he really can convince her to join his cause, āTogether, we will save this country from those who would destroy it.ā This is when Jon presents a counter offer of his own which backfires a little,Ā āBecause I need your help, and you need mine.ā
Gaining Perceptive/Humanising Insight:
Despite Danyās reminder of the size of her armed forces, Jon for the first time tries to gain perceptive on Dany & her moral compass in terms of why she doesnāt use her army to sack Kingās Landing while still remaining mostly sceptical about her, āat the very least, youāre better than Cersei.ā But Jonās pitch isnāt very articulate and has two issues:
He makes her feel like heās being condescending when he says, āweāre children playing at a game, screaming thatthe rules arenāt fair.ā A mistake he soon understands when Dany tells Tyrion,Ā āand now heās calling me a child.ā
He tries being direct,Ā āYour Grace, everyone you know will die before winterās overā¦ā but as he talks about the army of the dead, he soon realises that he sounds like a mad man to these people but he sticks to it.Ā
In season 3, Mance Rayder told Jon that it was impossible to unite the Wildlings until,Ā āI told them we are all going to die if we donāt go down south.ā In every doomed negotiation, this is how Jon closes the deal but it doesnāt work at all with Dany. These two have an āunstoppable force meets an immovable objectā grade conflict and Dany tells him that she is not some naive Targaryen princess. She tells him about everything she had to go through to get where she is and why she has little to no faith in myths & legends. To her benefit, even Jon was sceptical about dragons until he saw one with his own eyes. Her candid disclosure of all her hardships, adds to a shift in his bias for a moment.
Undoing :Ā Being backed into a corner by her & Tyrion into a political debate which is mostly handled by Davos, Jon clings even harder to his preconceived notions āI mean no offence, Your Grace, but I donāt know you. As far as I can tell, your claim to the throne rests entirely on your fatherās name, and my own father fought to overthrow the Mad King.ā Just like that she is once againĀ āThe Mad Kingās daughterā and he pushed away whatever insight he gained into her earlier when there was hope of forming an alliance. When she excuses them, the thought of being a prisoner returns and he walks away clinging harder to the intimidating & biased first impression.Ā
This is evident by his talk with Tyrion later when heās brooding & regretting his decision to come to Dragonstone. āEveryone told me to learn from my fatherās mistakes. Donāt go south. Donāt answer a summons from the Mad Kingās daughter, a foreign invader. And here I am, a Northern fool.ā At this point, he doesnāt see any hope for an alliance or any good in Daenerys as a person despite Tyrionās advice that he should consider talking to the people on the island to form a more informed opinion on Daenerys or try a more reasonable approach to forming an alliance.Ā
Recovery & Jonerys Theme: This time Jon approaches her with casual conversation about something that fascinates him, like dragons and they do connect for a moment until once again their opposing political views come up. But what changes everything, is Danyās peace offering, āI will allow you to mine the dragonglass and forge weapons from it. Any resources or men you need, I will provide for you.ā
This is the moment when Jonerys theme plays for the first time, focusing on Jonās face and you truly see something stir within Jon,Ā āThank you. So you believe me, then, about the Night King and the Army of the Dead?ā Itās the first time ever in a while that Jon seems hopeful, for a chance for survival & an alliance. Considering the prejudices that he was clinging onto, the generosity takes him by surprise and in this instance those prejudices faint. He might not completely trust her, know her or like her but now heās not clouded by the bias he began this journey with, which now leaves him with three thingsā¦attraction, hope & frustration that she still doesnāt believeĀ him.Ā
Environment : Itās so interesting that when the tension develops & builds between these two, they meet in a dark throne room, surrounded by advisers & guards. Dany is sitting on a throne & immersed in her hardened queenly persona & he is a defiant & challenging warrior on a mission. The conflict resolves out in the open, yet they have privacy. The surroundings beautiful & bright, just two Targaryens watching dragons fly into the horizon as the sun sets. Dany gentle & Jon defeated, stripped of their hardened exteriors. Whatās more interesting is that they both had to descend stairs in both these scenes, Dany descends from the throne to come down to Jonās level in order to help him understand her and Jon descends stairs in the second scene to once again try to reason with her.
7X04 - The Spoils of War - Potential Ally to Part of the inner circleĀ
Hope - Not only did he discover a mountain of dragonglass, enough ammunition to arm everyone but he also found proof for the existence of White Walkers, to help him make a reasonable & legitimate case this time as Tyrion suggested after his first failed attempt.Ā
Mission to change her political goals: This time he has a strategy, and after learning that they communicate better privately, he takes her into the cave alone to present the proof and convince her to join his fight.Ā
Fighting attraction : Despite Jonās efforts to focus on the task at hand, as his biases & prejudices slip away, it becomes visibly harder for him to pretend that he doesnāt feel attracted to her.Ā
Unanticipated bubble of Intimacy - The cave scene is one of most emotionally charged scenes and most of the intimacy comes from chemistry rather than dialogue. Iām sure Jon expected that he would need to work harder to convince her but she is instantly fascinated by the cave paintings, āThey were right here,standing where weāre standing. Before there were Targaryens,or Starks or Lannisters. Maybe even before there were men.ā The previous episode, he gains some insight into her when he realises that she doesnāt want to sack Kingās Landing or when she offers him dragonglass or when Tyrion adds a bit of doubt that he should try forming his own opinion on her. He might not be burdened by the prejudices of Mad Kingās daughter & foreign invader, but he still only knows her as the Dragon Queen and so far he has only gained faint insight into her political/moral code. But this particular moment is very endearing & humanising, sheās just a beautiful girl in dim lighting, alone with him in a cave who turns out to be a history nerd. I donāt think Jon expected her to be interested in what he had to show her so easily and it does put him at ease around her. (Gif : @Mhysaofdragons)
Which brings us to this moment, this is the first time he felt comfortable enough to enter her personal space & touch her. Their interaction so far had been very formal. This is a crucial moment, she is no more someone he is intimidated by or carries major prejudices against and she is not even just the Dragon Queen. His body language is much more relaxed & casual in her presence and this subconscious action, clearly marks a shift in their dynamic.Ā (Gif : @Mhysaofdragons)
Together:Ā āThey fought together against their common enemy. Despite their differences,despite their suspicions. Together. We need to do the same if we are gonna survive. Because the enemy is real. Itās always been real.ā He makes his pitch once again after showing her the proof for the existence of White Walkers and his wording is telling of his own feeling,Ā āDespite their differences,despite their suspicions.āĀ Ā This is less of an assessment of first men & children of the forest and more of a projection, he still doesnāt agree with her politics, he doesnāt care about the Seven Kingdoms or the Iron Throne or her conquest, his only mission in life is winning the Great War & protecting the living from the dead.Ā
Also even though he has gained humanising insight into her & most of his prejudices have slipped away, he is still suspicious of her & doesnāt trust her. But an interesting observation is how deep & masculine his voice is while making the pitch & how soft & feminine her is, which is a subconscious change which talking to someone you feel attracted towards.
He once again urges her to fight with him, much more humbly than last time. There is no arrogant & challenging declarations likeĀ āBecause I need your help,and you need mine.āĀ This time when she asks him, āAnd you say canāt defeat them without my armies and my dragons.ā He honestly confesses, āNo, I donāt think I can.āĀ He put his faith in her, now that he knows her better, and shows her his cards, hoping she would do the right thing.Ā
Jonerys Theme:Ā When Dany closes the distance between them the Jonerys theme music plays, once again focusing on Jon who looks visibly smitten, so this is a turning point for him just as the moment from previous episode when Dany offers him the dragonglass, the theme plays & his prejudices begin to slip away. So what changes this time?
She offers him everything that he wanted, āI will fight for you. I will fight for the North. When you bend the knee.āĀ But she expects him to support her goals in return. The remarkable thing is that this time the difference in their politics doesnāt lead to a rift of an argument and neither does he become detached & cold like he did when she brought it up in the previous episode. āMy people wonāt accept a southern ruler. Not after everything they have suffered.āĀ He expresses his only reservation, staying humble and maintaining a gentle & kind tone. So hereās the switch, he isnāt entirely against her goals or politics, now that he knows that sheās a Queen who cares & is prepared to fight the Great War together.Ā In her softest tone, she addresses him as a King for the first time, āThey will if their King does.āĀ This moment marks a big change for their dynamic because in this moment she is no longer an ambitious Highborn with opposing political goals but an ally who is prepared to do the right thing & who treats him as an equal.Ā
Looking into the Mirror :Ā There are two crucial moments this episode points out their mirroring journeys:
āThey chose you to lead them. They chose you to protect them. Isnāt their survival more important than your pride?ā Danyās appeal strongly resonates with what Jon once said to Mance in another life when Manceās stubbornness to bend the knee & make peace lead to the demise of his people.Ā Jon was visibly shaken up the moment she says the words. Iām sure they reminded him of who he once was. (Gif : @midqueenallyā)
When they leave the cave and the situation suddenly shifts to that of political unreast. Enraged, Dany decides to take matters into her own hands & put an end to Cersei. She says something that strongly resonates with what Jon said to Ramsey before the Battle of Bastards after he too proposed to put an end to the war by settling it in single combat with Ramsey. Ā (Gif : @midqueenallyā)
Environment : Much like the previous episode, here too there is a transition from a dark setting to a bright setting but it has a reverse effect. This time they had privacy, resolution & intimacy in the dark cave and as they emerge into the bright beach, they are surrounded by advisers and political differences are brought to light to once again create a rift between them emotionally.Ā
Itās also interesting that it was Jon who was leading Dany into the cave when he was convincing her to join him to fight the Great War & on the beach, it is Dany who is leading them when Jon is roped into her war council.Ā
Invitation to Inner circle & Undoing :Ā
When Dany puts him on the spot & asks him for his advice, unlike everyone else on his council, he doesnāt tell her what to do.Ā As a leader he knows how counter productive that can be sometimes, so he lays out his thoughts to diffuse her anger and let her make her own decision.Ā
āI never thought that dragons would exist again. No one did. The people who follow you know that you made something impossible happen. Maybe that helps them believe that you can make other impossible things happen.āĀ Ā Now Jon still doesnāt know why the her people follow her or of all the things she did in Essos to inspire that faith but as a stranger he tries to guess based on what he feels about her. Witnessing the existence dragons fills him with wonder and she gives him hope that things he earlier considered impossible, like defeating the Night King are possible now with the power she commands.Ā Ā
āBuild a world thatās different from the shit one theyāve always known.āĀ He doesnāt know about her plans to break the wheel & change the feudal system through which high lords trample over the common people as they play their game of thrones, but from the insight he has gained, he can understand that she is not in it for selfish ambition and there is more to her agenda which he might not fully understand. Thus, he doesnāt oppose & detest her political goals at this point and shares his faith in the good he thinks she is capable of doing in the world.Ā
āBut if you use them to melt castles and burn cities, youāre not different, youāre just more of the same.āĀ Ā But hereās the suspicion & prejudice peeking through, the emotional charge going from positive to negative, as opposed to the last episode.Ā He shares the hope & faith that he has in her but there is still doubt that she just might be like all the other contenders for the Iron Throne before her who accomplished nothing but wreak havoc in Westeros and leave the country broken & vulnerable when winter was coming.Ā
Much like his scene with Tyrion in which he is brooding on a cliff in the previous episode, a shift happens for him with his scene with Davos & Missandei this episode. Even though he brushes away Davosās observation of the longing looks Jon gives Dany, his confession,Ā āI think she has a good heart,ā points that despite the doubt he still holds onto as the conclusion on the last scene hints, he believes in her after she promised to fight for the North if he supports her as well.Ā
He even takes Tyrionās advise from the previous episode, āDaenerys could have sailed for Westeros long ago, but she didnāt. Instead, she stayed where she was and saved many people from horrible fates, some of whom are on this island with us right now. While youāre our guest here, you mightĀ consider asking them what they think of the Mad Kingās daughter.ā He asks Missandei,Ā āWhy did you leave your homeland?ā and when he finds out about MissandeiāsĀ past and her faith in Dany, itās the first time he catches a glimpse of Danyās role in the liberation of Slaverās Bay even though he doesnāt know the full picture.Ā
āAll of us who came with her from Essos, we believe in her. Sheās not our Queen because sheās the daughter of some king we never knew. She is the Queen we chose.āĀ Missandeiās words have a huge impact on him as this is what he felt about Danyās claim when they first met, āAs far as I can tell, your claim to the throne rests entirely on your fatherās name,ā and the knowledge that the greatest army in the world which she commands doesnāt care much for her father surprises him because he doesnāt know that the Dothraki follow strength above all & the Unsullied follow her because she freed them from slavers. He might not know everything about her but now he knows that there is a bigger reason behind the loyalty she inspires, than her dragons filling people with wonder or her family name.Ā
Positive charge - The episode ends with Jon addressing her as theĀ āThe Queenā when heās talking to Theon. (āThe Queen is gone.ā)
7X05 - Eastwatch - The emotional roller coasterĀ
Beginning : This episode begins with Jon in awe of witnessing Dany riding her dragon as she returns from battle.
Jonerys Theme : A riderās bond with their dragon is one of the strongest relationships in a dragon riderās life and Dany is their mother as well. Symbolically, the dragons have been an extension of Dany & her inner strength and her relationship with them is strongly tied to her character arc.Ā āWho would ever dare to love a dragon?ā is a powerful Daenerys quote from the books. Itās interesting that Drogo loved her when her dragon eggs hadnāt hatched & Dany hadnāt come into her own or embraced her inner strength. She started a relationship with Daario right after she locked up her dragons & Drogon ran away from home. It was a time in her life when she was felt lost in her attempt to fit into the persona of the queen of Meereen & negotiate with slavers. When she finally embraced the dragon within her and burnt the temple of Dosh Khaleen, thatās when Drogon finally let Dany mount him & her relationship with Daario crumbled soon after. (Gif:Ā Ā joneryssnowstorm)
Keeping that in mind, the symbolism is really powerful when Jon, despite shaking like a leaf, stands his ground when a fully grown & mounted Drogon approaches him. He dares to show love to a dragon instead of feeling intimidated. Jon, unlike most men, doesnāt feel insecure in the presence of a powerful woman nor is he intimidated. Instead he is fascinated and in awe and his first instinct is to touch Drogon, just as he dared to make an ally of Dany when everyone in his life was terrified of letting him walk into the dragonās den, asking for help. When Jon touches Drogon & Drogon accepts him, thatās when the Jonerys theme playsĀ and even though the camera moves to a surprised Daenerys for a moment, the focus is on Jon drinking in this surreal moment & Drogon accepting him. Jon doesnāt just find Dany attractive, intriguing & inspiring but he is also fascinated by the part of her which the world fears - the dragon.Ā
Unexpected emotional responses :Ā
1. To Jon, the dragons represent hope in the form of miraculous weapons to destroy the Night kingās army. Dany is offended by his comment on their lack of beauty or him calling them beasts. āTheyāre not beasts to me. No matter how big they get or how terrifying to everyone else, theyāre my children.ā This is the first time he truly understand what they really mean to her & how maternal she truly is, and this is man who has wanted nothing more than a maternal figure and felt that lack deeply in his life. So Iām sure no one can appreciate, her strong maternal bond with her dragons, more than him.
2. In the script this particular moment was described as, āHe watches her watching her Dragons and wishes that he could keep looking at her and forget about the world events weighing on his shoulders.ā
You can see him instantly shrug it off as tries to fight the thought.Ā He is so desperate to feel anything but this that for the first time, he initiates a political discussion. He hates being backed into any discussion of the conquest usually but now he initiates it, even though she doesnāt want to talk about it.Ā Maybe he just wants to cling onto something that would help him keep a distance. Not only is he unable to butt heads with her but her confession,Ā āWe both want to help people. We can only help them from a position of strength. Sometimes strength is terrible,ā leaves him with a newfound outlook on power.Ā
3. Now that Jon doesnāt know what he feels about her battle and the discussion leads to Battle of Bastards, Dany remembers what Ser Davos said about Jonās death. Now Jon is faced with a new emotional turmoil, he clearly isnāt ready to talk about it or acknowledge it but he also canāt lie to her when she asks,Ā āSo, it was a figure of speech?ā Jorahās entrance saves him.Ā
4.Ā Lord Commander Mormont told Jon about how Jorah brought dishonour to their family by selling slaves so he is already a bit weary of the guy when he finds out that he is her adviser. But then Dany hugs Jorah, even though she usually maintains some amount of formality with most people in her life, this uncharacteristically intimate treatment towards someone he believes to be dishonourable by the woman he feels attracted to, draws a jealous response. (Gif :Ā mhysaofdragons)
Disaster - Jon is good at a lot of things but this stoic Northerner is not used to dealing with emotions and considering everything the last scene stirred up, finding out that Bran & Arya are alive & in Winterfell & the army of the dead is marching on Eastwatch, pushes him over the edge. (Dany still doesnāt understand the magnitude of the White Walker threat as someone who has only heard about them & seen a drawing but she knows if she marches North, the Kingdoms that supported her would become vulnerable &Ā at the risk of turning into warzones. Dorne could be looted & raided just as Highgarden. There needs to be peace in the Seven Kingdoms before she leaves). When Jorah volunteers to heroically catch a zombie alone, toĀ āserve Danyā, Jon declares, āIām the only one here whoās fought them. Iām the only one here who knows them.ā Until Jorah volunteers, all he wanted to do was go back to Winterfell & work on building their defences but heās spiralling emotionally and thus the disastrous idea of the Wight Hunt is born.Ā
Undoing -Ā In the scripts this is how the undertone of the scene is set by the writers: āJonās and Danyās argument has the undertone of a woman trying to keep her man from venturing into harmās way.ā SoĀ when she says,Ā āI havenāt given you permission to leave,ā she doesnāt want him to go on this dangerous mission he might not return from but Jon in his emotional state reads it as Dany trying to command him as someone like Jorah, who has bent his knee to her & accepted her as his queen.Ā Ā āWith respect, Your Grace,I donāt need your permission. I am a king. And I came here knowing that you could have your men behead me or your dragons burn me alive.ā He didnāt see her face when she says he canāt leave but as he soon notices that she is worried about him, he tries to put it gently, ā I put my trust in you, a stranger, because I knew it was the best chance for my people, for all our people. Now Iām asking you to trust in a strangerā¦ because itās our best chance.ā
Environment - This time their scenes moves from a bright & private setting of intimacy to a dark setting of political conflict, shifting the emotional charge from positive to negative. But thankfully the farewell on the bright beach flips it once again.Ā
Resolution - Considering the defiant & negative note they left their discussion on earlier and knowing that he might never see her again, Jon tries to make light of the situation, āIf I donāt return, at least you wonāt have to deal with the King in the North anymore.ā But when Dany stops messing around and says, āIāve grown used to him.ā which is described as āa private goodbye in a public spaceā in the scripts, Jon does what he does bestā¦raise his walls and embrace the Stark stoicism & icy resolve. He uses the Westerosi phrase which has always had a finality to it & the ring of a final goodbye since he is leaving for a life threatening mission & his homeland is awaiting a zombie apocalypse,Ā āI wish you good fortune in the wars to come, Your Grace.ā He doesnāt even turn back because farewells are easier that way for people who donāt like indulging in emotions. The Jonerys theme plays for the second time this episode when he leaves, but for the first time this season, the focus is entirely on Dany.
7x06 - Beyond the Wall - Falling in Love
Beginning : After a few weeks travelling, bonding with Jorah & Tormundās reminder that the habit of not kneeling which Jon picked up during his time with the freefolk is futile since Manceās ego got his people killed, helps Jon see things more clearly. The moment the wight hunt fails & theyĀ are surrounded by the army of dead, Jonās first instinct is to get a raven to Dany. He still doesnāt know her completely and still doubts her but I think he threw a hail mary pass hoping the positive insight he gained on her are right & his doubts are wrong.Ā
The moment Jon fell in love - The save :
This is the exact moment when Jon Snow knew he was going to die and itās not even going to be a clean death, heāll be devoured by a group of zombies just as the guy he couldnāt save from falling over the cliff & into the hoard, leaving his people defenceless to share the same fate. Asking Dany for help was a long shot at best, considering how they left things. Iām sure he was mostly certain she wouldnāt come to fight an unplanned mystical battle in unfamiliar lands just to save his life. She had nothing to gain from it and everything to lose.Ā
Moments later, when heās ready to die, Dany shows up. Jon, who was fascinated by watching a Targaryen mounting a dragon for the first time in centuries, gets to actually witness the Dragon Queen in action, destroying his greatest fear, the army of the dead. After a moment of shock, this is how he reacts. Itās not just being overwhelmed by the theĀ godlike power she commands in this moment but all doubt crumbles and the faith she faintly inspired in him earlier grows exponentially. This is the moment Jon fell in love!Ā
When Dany extends her hand to him, the look on her face says it loud & clear that she just came here to save him and as someone who is used to constantly putting himself in danger to protect everyone else, I donāt think he expected someone to do the same for him. You do see him reaching out & wanting nothing more than to fly away with her but on instinct he keeps the wights at bay as his suicide squad boards the dragon first.Ā
The previous episode he found out what the dragons mean to her, that she considers them her children and not beasts so after realising that she came here just to save him & ended up losing a child, has a very visceral reaction from him. He saw her right before he turns in this scene & thatās why when he notes that the Night King is aiming for another dragon, he wants them to leave without him because he doesnāt want to cause her any more pain. It also explains why, Jon being Jon, feels guilty & regrets his decision to go North later.
This save does parallel with the Battle of Bastards in some ways, in his most emotional moment when he abandons his battle strategy in a suicidal move & charges at Ramseyās army alone, the people who love & follow him abandon strategy & reason as well to march into certain death just to protect him. Dany going against all reason & Tyrionās advise resonated with what was my favourite scene from BoB, when Jon takes out his sword & is prepared to die but his army is besides him to his surprise.Ā There was a beauty in that moment, for the love his people have for him and when Jon claws his way out of the clutches of death and wants to live, that very moment the knights of the Vale show up for a deus ex machina trope save to finish off the battle, leaving him free to go back to reclaim his childhood home Winterfell. In a similar manner Uncle Bejen shows up to tackle with the zombies(I donāt think he died though because the children of the forest put a dragonglass in his chest to turn him into what he is much like they did with the NK), leaving Jon free to go back to the woman he loves and he does make a move on her soon after waking up.
When Jon wakes up on the boat, Dany is sitting vigil by his bedside, in tears, consumed by grief.Ā It is the moment he really gets to meet Dany, stripped of her queenly persona. Sheās not wearing any of her Targaryen accessories and Jon is stark naked underneath the fur, how fitting for a wolf? At this point, Dany too had her falling in love moment when he returned alive & she finally saw his scars, along with the truth of everything he went through to defend the living from the dead.Ā
Brush with Death - He almost died, Dany saved him at a great cost, he watched a dragon die - an invincible force he was sure would defeat the Night King & Jon finally met & lost Uncle Bejen once again. An experience that profound, shakes a personās priorities, helps them see things more clearly & realise how short life really is when any day could be your last.Ā Not to mention he has tasted death before.
Need to comfort her - At this point, she is a woman he believes in, admires and is in love with, so when he wakes up to find her in tears, he doesnāt care about formality and takes her hard. It was a very strong subconscious instinct.Ā
Gratitude & Guilt -Ā This stranger whom he doubted and left things on such a defiant note, saved his life and sheās in tears because she lost a child because of it. Jon apologises, shares his regret and wishes, āI wish I could take it back.āĀ Ā Anyone would be overwhelmed by gratitude by a gesture like that but it could be argued that he doesnāt need to feel guilty. He shouldnāt be but thatās just who Jon is as a person, so he will be consumed by guilt & feel responsible for her grief, for a while.Ā
He gets to learn a lot of intimate things about Dany as a person:
Selflessness : Dany knows that he sacrificed his life to do the right thing & she just watched him die before he came back. She respects him for that & feels guilty about not believing him before, so she lets go of his hand & relieves him of his guilt, āI donāt. If we hadnāt gone I wouldnāt have seen. You have to see it to know. Now I know.ā The dragons were an extension of her & her strength, they are her children and until Viserion died, they were invincible so this is Danyās weakest moment. I donāt think Jon expected this level of selflessness in her weakest moment. He is not to blame but he feels responsible for her pain, and a motherās grief is usually less forgiving, even Catelyn was bitter & cruel to him for no reason when Bran was in a coma. But it surprises him that she holds no regrets & grudges, well except for the Night King, as she later discloses.
Infertility : Dany confesses one of her most intimate secrets, to help him understand the magnitude of what the Night King took from her, āThe dragons are my children. Theyāre the only children Iāll ever have.ā But she doesnāt stop there, she asks him, āDo you understand?ā This is crucial because a womanās ability to bear children is the greatest measure of how suitable she is for marriage in the patriarchal world of Westros and thanks to Jonās longing looks, Tyrionās observation & hand holding, she knows heās interested in her, so this is also a crucial disclosure.Ā
Together : āWe are going to destroy the Night King and his army. And weāll do it together. You have my word.āĀ This promise fulfils the goals Jon set out with when the season started, to convince her to fight for the North, with absolutely no expectations of supporting her in the fulfilment for her lifelong goal of restoring House Targaryenās legacy.Ā But weirdly, it does something else for Jon as well, it makes him respect & accept her as a leader.Ā
A glimpse of her dark past : āThank you, Dany.āĀ āDanyā¦ Who was the last person who called me that? Iām not sure, is it my brother? Not the company you want to keep.ā Any good listener would know the dark connotations of this sentence and how sad it is for someone with an unstable childhood in exile with just one person to call family, her dead brother. Creator Benioff commented on this scene āI donāt think either one of them really knew exactly how powerful their feelings were towards each other until these moments. Just the notion of falling for someone, that involves weakness, itās not something a queen does. But she feels that happening and he feels it happening for her.ā So itās profound that not only did Jon feel at ease to break the formality & hold her hand to comfort her but call her with an endearing nickname, Dany instead of Your Grace or even Daenerys.Ā
Politics & Jonerys ThemeĀ - Until now Jon never initiated a political dialogue with her and everytime he was roped into a conversation about politics, he always had a very negative reaction. He didnāt want to think about the Seven Kingdoms or the future plans for governance or who rules outside the North after the Great War. Now he has finally found a leader worth believing in, someone who cares, someone whose moral code aligns with his, an equal and someone who gives him hope that they could actually win this fight.Ā
āHow about My Queen? Iādā¦Ā bend the knee butā¦ā he pledges his loyalty to her in aĀ gravelly bedroom voiceĀ and theĀ Jonerys theme music plays and keeps rolling until the scene closes, so him professing her his queen has strong romanticĀ undertones of wanting something more than a political/military alliance.Ā Ā
āWhat about those who allegiance to you?ā Dany wonders since that was the only reservation Jon expressed the last time she offered to fight for the North if he bent the knee. She has a hard time understanding why he wants to bend the knee now when she has already agreed to join the fight.Ā
āTheyāll all come to see you for what you are.ā This says more about Jon than Northeners. Until now he had his prejudices & doubts about her and wasnāt sure if he could explain bending the knee to her in exchange for her support in the Great War but now that he has come to see who she really is and she inspires loyalty in him, he can stand upto anyone who says otherwise and actually make them understand.Ā
This is Danyās weakest moment, she lost a dragon and just realised the magnitude of the threat she was denying. Ā She is not sure of herself as a leader and Iām sure she too feels guilty about not believing Jon earlier, she shouldāt but thatās just who she is as a person. Itās an interesting moment, he believes in her more than she believes in herself and this time she reaches out to seek comfort and assurance, āI hope I deserve it,ā and he does assure her.Ā
Jon makes the move - As inopportune a moment it may be, this is the first time in his life that he made a move on a woman & went after his heartās desire. So maybe itās the brush with death, a strong need to comfort her & wanting to be comforted, the new & confusing feelings heās tired of fighting and the intimate moment, but he goes for it. Itās subtle gesture, he just tugs at her hand and urges her to stay with that longing gaze but she gets uncomfortably flustered and walks away.Ā
Conclusion - I wouldnāt call this an undoing & resolution because there wasnāt really a conflict/disaster or a resolution for it. The emotional charge was very positive when he made the move but they momentarily had an awkward situation which both of them wanted to quickly escape from, Jon by pretending to sleep & Dany by walking away flustered but he doesnāt feel rejected. I think they both understood that it was bad timing, since she was grieving and he was recovering from a near death experience. But the emotional charge stays positive in the end as well - Dany, unlike her previous conversation with Tyrion,now knows with absolute certaintyĀ that Jon desires her & Jon is left with longingā¦
7x06 - The Dragon & The Wolf - Courtship
Beginning : End of previous episode, Jon finally came to terms with what he truly wants & sets his mind to go after it but Dany was grief struck and in a very emo place. Jon was left with longing for her and from what the narrative for this episode suggests, she hasnāt met or spoken to him or anyone else since their awkward moment on the ship. It makes sense that she clung only to her dragons in her grief & was avoiding everyone else. Considering the multiple voyages - Eastwatch to Dragonstone & Dragonstone to Kingās Landing, it would seem like Jon hasnāt seen her in a few weeks so his reaction to Dany arriving at Dragon Pit with her dragons was quite endearing and telling.Ā
He even waits for his Queen to be seated first because heās a chivalrous gentleman. Let the courtship beginā¦
Goal: Jon takes the lead of the peace talks, where the endgame is to ensure the South doesnāt reduce to a warzone once itās not under Danyās protection & Dany marches North. I know it doesnāt work on Cersei but from Jonās perspective, he is trying to help them understand the magnitude of the threat lurking beyond the wall and why peace is a necessity as internal warfare at this point would only weaken the position of the living & leave more corpses to be raised by the Night King.Ā
Moment of truth : This is a very crucial moment for Jon & Danyās dynamic, less romantically & more politically, as their goals finally align.Ā āThe crown accepts your truce. Until the dead are defeated, they are the true enemy.Ā In return, the King in the North will extend this truce. He will remain in the North where he belongs. He will not take up arms against the Lannisters. He will not choose sides.āĀ Which leads us to this iconic moment.Ā
āI cannot serve two queens. And I have already pledged myself to Queen Daenerys of House Targaryen.āĀ He could have simply agreed to Cersieās terms, he hadnāt formally bent the knee on the ship and Dany neither cared for it at this point nor had she taken his previous pledge seriously considering the circumstances surrounding it, she didnāt even share the information even with Tyrion. It would have benefited him to agree. Even though Cersei was just playing them, if he agreed to back off, assured that the South wasnāt left vulnerable for war & plunder, Dany would have marched North with him. And if they survived, he would be under no obligation to help Dany in any way politically.Ā Ā
Jonās Reason : So why did he do it? Even Dany canāt figure it out when she walks upto him in tears, āIām grateful for your loyalty, but my dragon died so that we could be here. If itās all for nothing, then he died for nothing.āĀ And itās clear that Jon still carries the guilt because he canāt even bring himself to face her when sheās in pain and he feels like he disappointed them all.
But after Tyrionās prodding, he states his reason āIām not going to swear an oath I canāt uphold.āĀ So there we have it, he literally canāt bring himself to let her fend for herself in the fulfilment of her goals after the sacrifice she made for him and pledged all her military resources to defend the North. If they survive winter, she is the leader he believes in and thatās why he swears fealty to her.
The Beginnings of a RelationshipĀ
The private moment these two share in a corner of the dragonpit is their softest & most profound moment which moves this dynamic in the territory of a relationship. In terms of the environment, itās symbolic that they found an intimate corner in a literal political arena.Ā Of all the disagreements & arguments theyāve had throughout the season, no matter how polite, this one seems different because it rests on the foundation of mutual respect, admiration and partnership.Ā
Admiration : When Jon was off sulking in a corner with the bones of tiny dragons, all angsty and guilty over the mess they were in, āNo one is less happy about this than I am.ā Instead of blaming him or lying to him to make him feel better, Dany respectfully disagrees in a way which is usually expected from mature people in healthy long term relationships, āI know. I respect what you did. Wish you hadnāt done it, but I respect it.ā Itās not something you expect from such young people in such an early phase in their relationship. She too admires him & his moral code and I think getting to know that puts Jon at ease.Ā
Dany is stillĀ very emo, she isnāt in a strong place after losing one of her dragons who have always been the metaphors for her strength and sheās crippled by self doubt. For the first time since her dragons were born, her faith in her goal to restore her House to itās former glory is wavering and thatās why she talks of the demise of her family after their dragons wasted away.Ā āWe werenāt extraordinary without them. We were just like everyone else.āĀ Thatās the beauty of these two, when sheās in a place of self doubt, she inspires the most faith & admiration in him.Ā āYouāre not like everyone else,ā in conclusion, he thinks sheās extraordinary.Ā Ā
Danyā s goals - Future for House TargaryenĀ : As the last Targaryen, she has being carrying the weight of restoring her Houseās legacy and personally she wants to leave the world better than she found it even if her house ends with her.Ā Now that Jon believes in her as a leader and has pledged himself to her, he shows his support for her goals.Ā āAnd your family hasnāt seen its end. Youāre still here.āĀ She reminds him that she canāt leave someone to carry her legacy if she fails to fulfil her goals & restore her House to itās former glory,Ā āI canāt have children.āĀ I think Jon is intuitive enough to understand what sheās going through because he too has felt hopelessness & his faith in his goals waver.Ā Jonās body language approaching her is simply so charged in terms of showing his burning desire for her, it immerses them well into the intimate bubble the scene is pulling them into.Ā (Gif : dragon-princess)
Intention to Court :Ā Jonās objection to Danyās belief in her infertility curse points to something interesting. āHas it occurred to you she might not have been a reliable source of information?ā Now this is intriguing, because Jon has strayed from intimacy for a good part of his life out of fear of fathering bastards but not only does he pursue her for an intimate relationship but he also doesnāt have faith in the infertility curse & he just gave her hope for the future of House Targaryen.Ā
An important thing to keep in mind, this is not the modern world of dating & taking things slow, marriage is an immediate endgame to romantic courtship especially among people of such statureā¦ Starks especially, Robb married Talisa immediately after they had sex for the first time even though it weakened him politically, here there is love & a successful military alliance. The Jonerys theme playing when Jon asks, āHow about My Queen?ā is no coincidence, he is courting her & wants a future.Ā The writers even planted the seeds of foreshadowing up in the North as well through Littlefinger so it doesnāt come as a total surprise when these two reach Winterfell next season. (Gif :Ā jonerysonline)
Jonās Goals - Great War :Ā Dany makes a heart warming confession, āYou were right from the beginning. If I had trusted you, everything would be different.āĀ This is the kind of credit Jon almost never receives & itās a nice closure to his concern end of their first episode together,Ā āSo you believe me, then, about the Night King and the Army of the Dead?ā
Jon being Jon stays humble and focuses on the future, āSo, what now?ā and Dany tells him how shaken up she is about her experience beyond the wall, āI canāt forget what I saw north of the Wall. And I canāt pretend that Cersei wonāt take back half the country the moment I march north.āĀ Itās a valid military dilemma, to leave the people of Highgarden & Dorne vulnerable for war to fight the scariest army in the world. She has already promised that she would help him destroy the Night King, so Jon neither pushes her nor invalidates her concerns but tries to lighten the mood.Ā āIt appears Tyrionās assessment was correct. Weāre fucked.āĀ (Gif : Ā jonerysonline)Ā And look at that satisfied smile when he makes her smile.Ā
Resolution : Cerseiās offer for truce & her forces, despite being false, puts him at ease and the good thing for these two, for the very first time, the King & the Queen stand together both politically & emotionallyā¦with all their goals aligned.Ā Ā (Gif :Ā joneryssnowstorm)
Together :Ā Ā Itās good from a diplomatic standpoint as well but this is the closest thing to asking a girl out in Jon Snowās playbook,Ā Ā āItās your decision, Your Grace. But if weāre going to be allies in this war, itās important for the Northerners to see us as allies.Ā If we sail to White Harbor together, I think it sends a better message.āĀ He loves this woman, he wants her like heās never wanted anyone & heās very sweetly courting her but now that all their goals align, thereās not a single unresolved conflict between them & they are marching into a battle they might not survive, so for the first time in his life, Jon seizes the moment! (Gif : jondaenerysdaily)
āIāve not come to conquer the North. Iām coming to save the North. We sail together.ā By the look on her face, it seems like she understands & just agreed to go out with himā¦on a ship! (Gif :jondaenerysdaily)
Consummation - Jonerys Theme
From a writing standpoint, Rhaegar & Lyanna arenāt technically characters, they are plot devices for Jonās story, which is why their actions & motivations donāt always make sense and the second hand account of their relationship changes with the plotās requirement.Ā This particular scene serves two purposes : reveal Jonās parentage & the consummation of Jon & Danyās relationship and thereās a crosscut to draw a parallel and give words to describe Jon & Danyās romance which goes beyond wordsā¦ their silence & gazes have a language of their own. It makes a powerful statement about Jonās intentionsĀ when we witness one royal couple exchange wedding vows right before another consummatesĀ their relationship for the first time, considering the parallels drawn between the two dynamics.Ā
The entire Jonerys theme plays for the first timeĀ after Jonās shy & nervous knock and Bran narratesĀ āHe loved her.Ā And she loved him,ā when Dany opens the door.Ā (Gif:Ā dragon-princess)
The most crucial is when Jon pulls back to gaze into her eyes. This is the moment the magnitude of his feeling truly sinks in.Ā Heās trying to fathom that this truly is reality, he wants to breathe in this surreal momentĀ and etch this memory in this mind forever.Ā So there we have it, Jonās romantic quest comes to a beautiful climax, quite literally ;)Ā (Gif :Ā jonearys)
I was asked by someone to analyse boatsex as well but I wrote a very elaborate & smutty fanfic so sharing the link instead : The dragons dance at sea from dusk to dawn. I included my understanding of their thoughts & feelings and about what must be going through their minds in great detail, so have fun! Sorry about the delay & procrastination on this meta, hope you enjoyed it. I was feeling lazy but I pushed myself to finish it because I want to thankĀ the Jonerys fam for my tiny blog just hitting 1k followers. I love you guys!
Note : I tried to include gif credits for all gifs but some I found on google which didnāt lead me to a blog so let me know in the comments if you know who I should credit for a gif missing credit.
